Mar 23 - 29: Elin's Dedication

The last week of March was a busy one for us.  Of course, I didn't manage to write up the blog entry for it in a timely fashion, so now I'm struggling to remember everything that happened!  I do remember that I made several shopping trips in an attempt to find coordinating outfits for our latest installment of family pictures that were held on Sunday, March 30.  I also had to buy a new dress & shoes for Elin's dedication service on Sabbath.  None of my church dresses fit well anymore now that I've lost weight, so I had to make an emergency purchase.  I'm one of those people that really dislikes shopping.  I don't enjoy going to multiple stores, searching through multiple racks of clothing for something that may look good on me or trying on clothes only to discover it doesn't fit right.  Why aren't sizes the same from one brand to the next?!  I tried on a pair of jeans from Dillard's in my current size, but couldn't even get them up past my knees!!  Being a smaller size makes shopping a bit more enjoyable, but only marginally. :)

Our week started with a visit from a former coworker of Kent's, Ying-Tsin Chen!  He was in town for a convention and we were able to visit with him on Friday night and on Sunday afternoon.  This was the first time that Ying-Tsin met Elin!  We always threaten him with baby-sitting when he visits; it's rather funny to see him go completely pale!

Erik's school had a song fest on Wednesday, 3/26 - Erik's class sang Patty Cake and Baa, Baa Black Sheep.  Kent and I had tried to get Erik to practice at home for the weeks leading up the concert, but he would never sing along with us.  Once they started singing at school, we figured out why - his class did completely different renditions of both songs!  The Baa, Baa Black Sheep song was actually in a rap version; all the kids wore sunglasses and the chorus involved the kids leaning forward and shouting "Baa, Baa"!  It was so cute.  Erik did very well on stage during this concert; he didn't actually see us until he was on stage, so we didn't have any arguments or tears when he had to leave us to go onstage.  When he did see me (I was part of the Mom mosh pit at the front while Kent was in back with Elin & the video camera), he kept smiling sweetly and waving at me.  It was just precious.

Doing the motions for "Patty Cake"

Rap version of Baa, Baa Black Sheep

Shaking their hips

Baa!

Our week ended with Elin's dedication to the Lord at the Forest Lake SDA Church on Sabbath, March 29.   When we dedicated Erik 2 years ago, our church had just switched from individual baby dedications at random times through-out the year to 3 group dedications during the year.  We were part of the first group dedication ceremony, which was a very large group!  The church still does group dedications and somehow, we again ended up in a very large group!  The dedication is always held during the 11:30AM church service, which we don't attend, so we've only been to one other dedication since Erik's in 2012; the one we attended last fall was small!  We had about 8 families this time and we completely filled up the stage!  Elin and Erik did very well on the stage, though there were a few instances of moving kids between Kent & I. We were the 4th family to be introduced and then we had to stand on stage for the remaining 4 families and for a short homily that the pastor gave; it can be a long time for kids to be quiet & still!  Erik started the musical parents game by trying to dive out of Kent's arms to me, so I held both kids for a few minutes before Elin agreed to go to Kent!  Then Erik wanted Kent to hold him again.  And on it went.  Elin fussed when I handed her to Pastor McCoy for the prayer and I had to retrieve her mid-prayer, but she wasn't the only baby who tried to get back to Mommy!

Panoramic shot of the platform during the dedication

In addition to having a group dedication service, the pastoral staff has a pre-meeting with all the families to discuss the dedication process and to provide us with parenting spiritual tools & resources.  During that pre-meeting, we have the opportunity to create a little video where we could talk to Elin about why we decided to dedicate her and our hopes/goals for her future. I tried to write up something wonderful and profound, but it seemed too contrived (plus I am not a great speech writer).  Kent & I ended up just winging it; I started our little talk and Kent concluded it.  I don't even really remember what we said, other than that I felt I had a bad ending to my section because I couldn't think of what else to say and just looked helplessly at Kent!  

In addition to our Orlando friends who attended Elin's dedication, my parents were able to drive down from South Carolina and one of my best friends from college, Rosalie Oliver, and her family drove up from Sebring, FL. After the actual dedication ceremony, the church also hosted a delicious dinner for the families & friends where we received baby quilts from the church's quilting ministry.  The group dedication process makes for a long day and we are so thankful that our kids can adapt fairly well to schedule changes (aka delayed or shortened naps).  When Erik gets tired, he gets a little cranky, a little weepy, a lot hyper and is very easily frustrated.  It was pouring rain when we needed to leave (aka get Erik to his nap), but Kent braved the elements and ran across the church property to where we had left the car.  Poor fellow was soaked through in just seconds; what a guy to sacrifice himself that way so that we could all go home and our kids could nap while we got to visit with my parents and with the Olivers!

One of my favorite parts about the group dedication is that parents are encouraged to choose a Blessing Verse for their child.  This verse is one that we want our child to cling to throughout their lives and one that we, as parents, can pray over our child as they work through life's decisions or struggles.  For Elin, we choose a passage from Proverbs - I learned this verse from the King James Version when I was little and so that is the version that always comes to mind.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; lean not onto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." King James version
or
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take." New Living Translation
Proverbs 3: 5, 6

We ask that whenever you pray for or about Elin, that you would pray these verses for her!

Pastor McCoy introducing Elin

Elin loves sucking on her hand.  Attempts to remove it result in crying & fussing

Holding both kids - hoping we can get off stage soon!

It got worse when the kids started goofing off - Elin tried to kiss Erik and he started to giggle

Kent to the rescue!  Let's see if Elin will stay with him

Umm, nope.  She wanted to come back to Mommy.  Is this a new game?!

Picture with Pastor McCoy after the dinner

Photo with Nana & Pops after dinner

Elin & Kelli

Mar 16 - 22: SeaWorld & Sleepliness

We started our week with a trip to SeaWorld on Sunday!  We have annual passes to the park this year, which is great timing since Erik recently got a new book about whales that he absolutely loves!  Since both our kids are still so young, we only went down for the morning and got there not too long after it opened.  We headed straight to the new Antarctica exhibit to see the penguins.  I have to say that the new penguin "house" is fabulous!  There were no walls or windows between us and the penguins like in the previous building, just a nearly waist high partition made partially of glass so that you could see the penguins swimming by you.  Since there was no real barricade, the air was COLD!  It would be the perfect place to be during the hot Florida summers!!  Erik liked seeing the penguins, but then decided it was too cold and he wanted to leave.  We didn't go to see any shows this visit, but we did see the seals, the sharks, the dolphins and the children's Happy Harbor where Erik can go on all the rides except one.  Both kids did great while we were there; Erik even agreed to ride in the double stroller for a fair amount of the morning.  He did insist, however, on helping to push it on occasion.

Penguin Habitat

Kent & Elin

Kelli & Erik

Elin could only sit on the bench on the SeaWorld Carousel

Kent & Elin selfie

The Johnson Family selfie

Kelli & Erik selfie - in the caboose on the train ride in Happy Harbor

Elin chewing on my hair - one of her favorite things lately!

We were going selfie crazy at SeaWorld!

Kent left on a business trip early Monday morning and didn't return until Wednesday afternoon.  I hate being a single parent and felt like I was just surviving until Kent got home.  I feel that everything seemingly falls apart during bath & bed time; I'm sure that Erik & Elin were communicating telepathically with each other on how to best thwart my efforts!

While Kent was gone, I started sleep training with Elin on Monday night.  Since I was a single parent, I had to put her down while she was still awake (something I don't normally do) and she had cried herself to sleep by the time I had put Erik to bed and left his room.  She slept nearly 7 hours and then woke up around 3:30AM.  I tried to hold out, but eventually had to go in and try to help her get back to sleep.  From there, Elin totally won the night.  On Tuesday night, I again had to put her down awake, but she was still screaming when I came out of Erik's room. I sat down with her and nursed her some more (she had only had a short session since Erik kept distracting her).  She only slept 2 1/2 hours and then cried off & on until nearly 1AM.  She would drift off for a few minutes but then wake up and scream.  I went in once to soothe her since when she gets ramped up, she can't calm down.  I got her calm and then put her back down.  She started the cry, drift off, cry sequence again.  The rest of the week was pretty much the same.  She will sleep until about 3:30AM and then is awake for 1 to 2 1/2 hours.  She will often drift off while sitting up & leaning against the railing of the crib.  I'm tempted to go in and help her get more comfortable, but am scared that I would just wake her up and start the cycle all over again (I've only had to go in & move her once)!  I remember sleep training being so easy with Erik!

1. Bible - After nearly 3 months on the daily Bible reading plan, I'm running into an unexpected problem this week.  I'm forgetting to read my daily selections and am getting behind on the plan.  I have had to have several marathon reading sessions this week to catch up.

2. Health - I was finally able to meet one of my health goals and exercise this week!  Sadly, it was only one time, but hey, it was progress!  My plan is to wake up early a few days each week and use our elliptical machine before Elin wakes up.  However, since we are still deeply in the throes of sleep training, there has been no getting up early lately. :)

3. Projects - This was a week for working on several different projects, making progress, but not getting any of them completely done!  I found an idea on Pinterest for storing & displaying Christmas cards & letters; I was able to get three years done this week - only about 10 years to go!!

4. Fun - I am going to say that our trip to SeaWorld qualifies as fun!

Mar 9 - 15: Time Change Trials

Oh my, do I ever hate Daylight Savings Time.  This week has been positively dreadful trying to adjust to the new time - especially given the fact that we flew home from Wyoming on Sunday night.  So it was a 3 hour time change for us.  We didn't land until after 11PM on Sunday and both kids slept until 10:30AM the next morning (to help make up for their inability to sleep on the plane).  You'd think we would be rather rested after that, but I still felt like I had been run over by a train. :)

Even with all our sleep-deprivation due to trying to get back onto Florida time, we had a very busy week.  I took the kids out on errands & shopping excursions every day except Friday (I decided I needed some quiet, at-home time while Erik was at daycare that morning!)  On Monday, we went to the mall to pick up Elin's latest pictures from JCPenney and to start scoping out family outfits for the pictures we will take to commemorate Elin's 9-month birthday.  On Tuesday, I took the kids to buy a gift for Kent and then we went grocery shopping; this was one of the roughest store experiences I've had with both kids.  Erik has decided that he is fully on board with the sharing concept which means that he tries to give Elin some of whatever snack or drink he has.  He doesn't understand that she can't eat all that food yet and doesn't really know how to chew!!  We ended up dumping half a bag of cheerios on the floor when Erik tried to share and then tried to take it back after I scolded him.  Elin had a death grip on the baggie!  Thankfully, there were 2 store employees right there who immediately volunteered to clean up the mess.  I love Publix!

On Wednesday, Erik went back to school (thankfully, he didn't have any issues being left there) while the girls got a few more errands done.  Wednesday also marked our EIGTH wedding anniversary - hooray for us!  Kent brought home dinner so that I wouldn't have to cook (I really don't enjoy that chore) as well as a lovely bouquet of flowers.  On Thursday, we all needed to get out of the house, so it could get cleaned, so I decided to take the kids to Costco and pick up just 1 or 2 things.  Ha!  I left there with a full cart and had to leave before I was really ready because both kids started to get fussy!  One of the things that I found was some lovely drawer organizers and so I spent the afternoon cleaning out and organizing most of our kitchen drawers as well as my make-up drawer in the bathroom.  I am always so happy to see a clean, well-organized drawer!!  On Friday, Erik had a big day at school with the annual Purim festival, which is a festival to celebrate Queen Esther's defeat of Haman's plan to destroy all the Jews.  Erik made hamantaschen (delightful fruit or chocolate filled pastries), groggers (a noise maker that you shake whenever you hear Haman's name) and a crown.  On Sabbath, Kent gave me a wonderful gift and he took charge of the kids so that I could take a nap.  I meant to only sleep for another 30 minutes, but woke up about 2 1/2 hours later!  It was a beautiful thing!  That night, Kent and I had a date to celebrate our anniversary. It was nice to get out with just the 2 of us and spend some quiet, quality time together.  We always say that we are going to establish a regular date night, but it never seems to work out.  Maybe this week's adults-only excursion will inspire us!

Erik and his friend, Sage, getting ready to watch the Purim skit at school

Since we've been having such wonderful weather this week, we took some walks around the neighborhood.  Erik is fully engaged in being a big brother and insists on pushing Elin's stroller to/from daycare and pulling her in the wagon.  He is doing pretty well in steering the stroller lately.  Here are some pictures from a few of our excursions:

In the life of Erik, he has recently started telling us that he is scared of all sorts of things - such as cars on the road, shadows, or random noises.  He will run up to Kent or I and say, "car coming; hold you; Erik scared" while holding his arms close to his chest.  Not exactly sure where he picked this up from and I'm not sure if it's cute or something that I need to correct!  Also, his language skills continue to improve; he is talking in more complete sentences and has started using the correct pronouns more frequently ("hold me" rather than "hold you").

In the life of Elin, her drooling has slowed down (thank goodness), but she still doesn't have any new teeth.  She has become a serious Mama's girl - she will sometimes scream when I walk out of a room (even if she can still see me),  She still has lots of night-time issues (can someone else come over and do sleep training for me?  I don't wanna!).  She can also crawl super fast and has learned her way around the house.  There have been a few times when I took Erik back to his room for a diaper change and, once she realizes that she has been left behind, Elin will follow us down 2 hallways, her hands smacking down on the floor the whole way!  She also loves to play right at my feet when I'm working in the kitchen, grabbing onto the backs of my legs.

Elin is going to be my dare devil, I'm afraid.  One day this week, I put her on the floor in my room and then sat down myself to take off my tennis shoes.  Just a minute later, I turned around and saw that Elin had climbed up onto a step-stool!  Yikes.  Slow down, little girl.  

Since sleep was such a critical issue in our household this week, I thought I'd share a few pictures with you:

Why are sleeping babies so cute?!

The view on Erik's monitor one night this week - they are both sound asleep!! 

1. Bible - I'm now in the book of Luke for my New Testament readings this week.  Luke is the only Gospel that talks about Elizabeth & Zechariah, John the Baptist's parents.  I'm not sure why, but I really like their story!  I also like how Mary & Elizabeth were a support "group" for each other during their pregnancies.  It is odd, though, that while still in utero, John recognized that Mary was carrying the Messiah and leaped for joy.  Since I've recently been pregnant, it makes me wonder how aware the baby really is of the "outside" world.

2. Health - I finally have gotten off the weight plateau!  I am back on the downward trend.  I did go off plan, though, for a few meals this week due to our 8th wedding anniversary.  I hope it doesn't ruin my progress too much.

3.  Projects - organized kitchen drawers (or most of them!)  I also worked on several craft projects; I love seeing progress being made and my to-do list getting a tiny bit shorter!

4.  Fun - lots of shopping trips and walks outdoors

Mar 2 - 8: Jackson Hole, Wyoming

This week, Kent and I did an amazingly brave thing (some may say, an incredibly crazy thing) and took both kids to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for the annual CFO conference that is always held at a ski resort.  This year, we actually have the potential for 6-7 different trips either out west or up north.  The mere act of packing for this first trip convinced us to take a couple of those potential trips off the table!  With our kids the age that they are, I feel like we have to practically bring the entire house with us whenever we travel for an extended period of time.  It's shocking how much luggage a little, tiny person can generate.

We flew out early Sunday morning; Kent and I had to get up at 4AM to get all the last minute items into bags, get the kids up and get all of us out of the door to make our plane.  Thankfully, the check-in and security lines at the airport were super short and we made it to our gate in record time.  Both Erik & Elin handle early wake-up calls very well and they like to people-watch, so they hardly ever cry in airports or on airplanes.  However, their people-watching can be a bad thing when you want them to nap and there is just too much for them to look at!  Since there are no direct flights into Jackson Hole, we first flew to Salt Lake City and then had a short commuter flight up to Jackson Hole.  Elin did manage to take a few 20 minute naps, but Erik didn't sleep at all, as expected.  When we arrived in Jackson Hole, we were greeted by a huge backlog of other travelers and all their luggage; the airport had been shut down the previous day due to a snowstorm.  It was rather chaotic, especially since the airport is also under construction!  Kent took Erik with him to stand in the car rental line and, within just a few minutes of being held, Erik fell asleep and stayed asleep for almost 2 hours while we waited for our bags.

Elin and I at the Orlando airport

Here we are again on the plane 

Elin visiting with Auntie Natalie & Uncle Casey

Erik & Kent on the plane (I think this is on the way home)

In the Orlando tram ride on our way out to Wyoming

Kent & Erik's selfie!

Erik at the Jackson Hole Airport

This year, we rented 2 condos with the Cochran's, Deininger's and Zbaraschuk's.  It was cheaper than staying at the conference hotel.  The condo's were very nice, but they were 3 story town homes with the main living area on the 2nd floor and one of the bedrooms on the top floor had a cut-out in the wall so it was open to the living room below.  Stairs with my 2 little ones is NOT ideal, to say the least.  Erik does pretty well with them, but he wants to go up & down the stairs over and over.  Elin would often head straight to the stairs when we would put her down in the living room, so she couldn't be left unsupervised at all.  No more multi-story condos for us!  The weather was pretty nice in Jackson Hole - it snowed most days, but was a pretty comfortable temperature for the most part.  Both kids seemed to enjoy the snow and cooler climate, though Elin got a terrible rash on her face and neck from the dry air (it cleared up within 1 day of returning home).

We tried to stay fairly active while we were there, so we went sledding with friends and by ourselves, built a snowman, visited a Children's Museum, went on a sleigh ride, had a play-date with friends and did a little bit of exploring in town.   Kent's conference ended on Thursday, but we opted to stay in Jackson Hole for the weekend to visit with Kent's sister, Natalie, and her husband, Casey, who flew in from Montana.  Casey is doing wonderfully after he was burned in a home explosion last July.  I think he looks great.  One of Casey's brothers & his family also came to town for the weekend.  Kent went skiing with all of them on Sabbath afternoon while I put the kids down for their naps.

The sleeping situation in Jackson Hole was not what I would call ideal.  We had 2 rooms between the 4 of us, but since Elin still wakes up at night, we didn't want to bunk the 2 kids together.  So, our family split up along gender lines and the boys took one room and the girls took another.  Elin did terrible, really.  She was awake at least every 2 hours crying and only napped for up to 40 minutes during the day; it was extremely painful for me since I couldn't get extended sleep at night or get a nap during the day.  On Friday night, when we left the condo and moved to a hotel to be near Casey & Natalie, I may have gotten only about 3 hours of sleep.  Since our family was now all in one room, I had to be sure that her crying didn't wake Erik up.  So, whenever she started to cry, I had to bolt across the room and pick her up.  She is really going to get sleep training when we get home!  Does anyone want to come over and do it for me?!

Here are some pictures of our time Jackson Hole:

Kent's view while skiing

Elin with her Auntie Natalie

Kent & Erik in the "boys" room

Kelli & Erik on the sleigh ride

Elk!

Elin playing with Kaylee Ng at the Children's Museum

Cutie Pie

Kent and the kids with our snowman, Sven

Sven & the Girls

Kent, Erik & Natalie - I think that Erik is so cute in this picture!  

1. Bible - I was able to keep current on my reading plan this week.  I want a book that talks about the 4 Gospels and why some stories are not included in all of them (or are included in all).  I want a better understanding for why there are 4 versions of the same book in the Bible.  Hmm, I guess it is similar to my desire to know why all the sacrificial details/rules are still in the Bible when Christ came to satisfy the need for sacrifices.

2. Health - no scale in our condo in Wyoming, so I don't really know how I did this week on weight loss.  I did pretty well with staying on diet while on vacation, but once we moved out of the condo to the hotel it was very difficult.  We had to eat out for most meals over the weekend and I didn't have the ability to make up the Medifast meals like I can with a  kitchen.

3.  Projects - I get a holiday from projects this week since I'm away from home!

4.  Fun - Hello?! We took the kids to Wyoming!!

Feb 23 - Mar 1: 8 months old

I am nearly 2 weeks late in posting the blog entry for the last week of February!  Oops.  I don't actually remember too many details about this week now.  I wish I could get better at posting timely entries!  I do recall that the week was busy and stressful.  It was not the best way to get ready for a week-long trip with an infant and a toddler!  We thought that Elin was teething because she began drooling like there was no tomorrow and she was up at all hours of the night.  But no new teeth have appeared.  Her sleep habits completely went downhill this week and are just pitiful; there is definitely sleep-training in our future.  Kent has a business trip coming up in a few weeks, so I suppose that I will attempt the sleep-training at that point to spare him the pain of it.  That's love, folks!

Here are the promised 8-month photos of Elin Kate (she doesn't like to sit still too well right now!!):

1. Bible - I'm keeping up with the reading plan which has daily selections from the Old Testament, the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs.  I do find that there are some passages that I would just prefer to continue reading rather than just reading a chapter and then moving to other books/passages.  It's like trying to read 4 different books at the same time.  Hmm, now that I've written that down, I realize that I AM reading 4 different books at the same time!!  Ha, ha.  I mean it's hard to keep each passage in perspective and remember exactly what the passages were from the previous day.  This week, I'm reading passages from Leviticus and from Mark.

2. Health - Well, another week at the same weight plateau.  I'm really ready to see some new numbers on the scale.  I am very happy to be wearing new jeans in a size I haven't even dared to try on in years, but still…. let's keep changing the numbers on the scale! On a good note, I've really noticed an uptick in my energy level in the past week or so - the sleepless nights, notwithstanding.  On Sunday, Erik wanted me to hold him while we stood outside & watched Kent mow the lawn.  This quickly turned into a game of chicken; we would creep up on Kent & the tractor and then when Kent would make a turn & come towards us, we would run screaming for a safe spot (I use the term "we" liberally since I was carrying 30+ pounds of Erik)!  Erik loved the game and so we played it for a very long time.  There's no way that I would have been able to run back & forth across our front yard, while carrying Erik, if I hadn't lost so much weight in the past 3 months.

3.  Projects - I got 3 people packed for a trip that is not only a week long, but is in a completely different climate.  Since I've lived in Florida, I find that trying to figure out what to pack for cold-weather climes is nearly impossible!  I'm always afraid that my clothes choices aren't quite right.  This is compounded when having to pack for kids.  I had to do more wardrobe pre-planning than I usually do since I needed to identify whether i needed to purchase items for the kids. 

4.  Fun - Due to our trip, I had to make a few trips with the kids to stores to buy cold-weather clothes.  While not so fun for me, Erik loves to go to "the 'tore" with Elin.  He is normally pretty obedient and sticks close to Elin's stroller, but there are times when he decides it is more fun to run away from me or to touch all the store mannequins, asking "what's dis?"!  I live in fear of destroying a store and being saddled with a huge repair bill!!

Cool dude, Erik!